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U.S. TV show broadcast from palace
RELATEDSPECIAL REPORTYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSLONDON, England -- One of America's most watched breakfast shows has been broadcast live from inside a royal palace in an unprecedented move to draw visitors back to Britain. ABC's "Good Morning America" moved to Windsor Castle, west of London, for Thursday's broadcast as figures were released showing far fewer people visited tourist attractions in London after the July terrorist bombings in the capital. On Friday, the show shifts to Buckingham Palace in central London and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland. Queen Elizabeth II gave permission for her official residences to be used but stayed away from the cameras. She is on her annual break in Balmoral, Scotland. It is the first time this kind of event has taken place in a royal palace. As the camera panned up the Long Walk which leads to the world's largest occupied castle, viewers were told: "The Long Walk up to Windsor Castle, traveled for centuries by kings, queens, heads of state and now you, in a one-of-a-kind broadcast." The presenter added: "It's the queen's favorite home, and now it's our home for the next two hours on 'Good Morning America.'" A spokesman for the VisitBritain tourist agency said the program's 5 million viewers were "our most important tourism market." "Anything we can do to remind Americans why Britain is their favorite travel destination is an enormous coup for British tourism," Elliott Frisby told The Associated Press. Meanwhile, another agency funded jointly by the UK government and the tourism industry said Thursday that 24.5 percent fewer people visited the UK's top 50 attractions in August than in the same month a year ago. The drop followed four suicide bombings on July 7 that killed 52 people on three Tube trains and a bus, as well as four failed attacks on the transit system on July 21. The live broadcast from Windsor came the day after it was confirmed that the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, are to visit the United States next month on their first official tour together since marrying in April. (Full story) The United States has traditionally been considered "Diana territory," the UK's Press Association said, referring to Charles' former wife, the late Princess of Wales. Diana was hugely popular across the Atlantic, and royal aides will be closely monitoring the American public's response to see how Camilla is received, PA added. Charles and Diana wed in 1981 and were divorced in 1996, a year before she died in a Paris car crash in 1997. 
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